“Slow but steady IPTV and cable video subscriber growth in North America, Europe, and Asia, led by AT&T, Verizon, Belgacom, Swisscom, Telus, and KPN, helped boost the equipment market in the second quarter, particularly IP set-top boxes, middleware, and video content security software. Another significant development this quarter was the US Court of Appeals strike-down of the FCC rule limiting cable video providers from owning more than 30% of the video subscription market. This could pave the way for Comcast to pass the 30% threshold via a merger or acquisition. In a year where growth is hard to come by and corporate valuations are low, we think there could be significant M&A activity in North America in the second half of 2009," predicts Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and video at Infonetics Research.

Cable operators are investing heavily in video on demand (VOD) infrastructure and hybrid IP/QAM set-top boxes to transition to a hybrid broadcast/unicast approach

The UK's Virgin Media will be a trailblazer along these lines, opting to begin its transition to IPTV now, and aiming to serve roughly 13 million subscribers by 2012

Chinese cable companies, with roughly 170 million video customers at the end of 2008, are furiously upgrading their aging broadcast video networks to support digital video and other bidirectional capabilities

Revenue derived by service providers and cable companies for IPTV, cable video, and satellite video services is forecast to grow to $142 million in 2013 in North America

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete more effectively.